Direct Save offer a range of standard and fibre to the cabinet packages alongside their fibre to the home offers. They come with various call plans and contract lengths. If these packages interest you, then visit Direct Save for more information about their standard broadband packages or their fibre packages.

Reasons to choose Direct Save Telecom

Fibre to the home - packages with speeds from 30Mb to 300Mb available in selected new build properties

Best for new build estates - in supported new build developments Direct Save may be your cheapest (or only) way to get fast broadband

Fibre to the cabinet packages also available - average speeds of 35Mb or 63Mb available in enabled areas

Phone bundles - you can add a call plan to the FTTH package if you need it

UK-based customer services - get support from a guaranteed UK call centre

Possible downsides

Fibre to the home has limited availability - it's currently only available to around 40,000 homes

Customer Reviews

Sometimes the best way to get a feel for a broadband provider is to read what those who are already customers think of the service they're receiving. Below are all the reviews we've received for Direct Save.

I've paid this Company over £200 for nothing,except excuses, hours of hanging on the phone and talking to me as if I was an idiot. I feel I've been mugged. Avoid like the plague.

Satisfaction

1 star

Customer Service

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

S. Clarke

Croydon

Direct Save

2020-05-15

Very poor internet provider, paying for 60mbps broadband - fibre to home and lucky to see over 10mbps.
Customer service has been equally as reliable as the service itself when needed.

Satisfaction

1 star

Customer Service

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

Lee

Norfolk

Direct Save

2020-05-01

These guys are a joke! I'm in London for work, and my relocation company signed me up with Direct Save in my flat. The only reason they went with them was because there was no contract (was planned to only be here for 9 months, so the company didn't want to tie me ino a 1+ year contract with another company).

Service so far has been terrible! Firstly they sent the router to the wrong address, so i was without any broadband for the first month in my flat. I supposedly have fibre broadband, but my connection can drop out when i move rooms (i'm in a 1 bedroom flat, so i'm only moving about 20 feet further from the router!)
Suddenly last week the broadband stopped working completely. Apparently there was an unauthorised takeover request from someone other than the person (company) they have the account with?!? A week on and they still haven't reinstated it, and the communication has been terrible.

Definitely wouldn't recommend these guys, i have had no positive experience with them since Sept last year.

Satisfaction

1 star

Customer Service

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

ES

London

Direct Save

2020-03-04

Avoid, avoid, avoid,. If you ever finally get through to customer service they are rude and unhelpful. Been with them less than 6 weeks and no end of trouble, stayed in for engineer, no show, finally got set up 7 weeks after I bought the service, connection was rubbish, speed less of 0.36, called 3 times, each call lasting nearly an hour and still no improvement. Their staff are rude and unhelpful, manager even worse. Please do not waste time or money signing up, you will have no end of trouble

Satisfaction

1 star

Customer Service

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

Inkie

Perthshire

Direct Save

2020-02-11

This company used to have an 0800 number - not now. Customer service is terrible. Waited 20 minutes for answer. This was bad enough when 0800 number now have to pay to wait.

Satisfaction

5 stars

Customer Service

2 stars

Speed

3 stars

Reliability

5 stars

Theresa Ferguson

Kirkintilloch

Direct Save

2020-01-06

A totally revolting company.
Arrogant and rude customer service.
Extra charges layered on for things not asked for...... "it's in our t&c's"
Slow internet and unusable voice blamed on OpenReach.
I sincerely hope the company rots, and disappears. They are basically selling a junk service in my case (and they know it) - the customer is not getting anything resembling what they paid for.
For those changing from BT that may have fibre to the cabinet.... BT will take this and allocate to another customer so DST can only give you copper to the exchange - you will be tricked into having a marginal service.

Satisfaction

1 star

Customer Service

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

Steve Webb

Essex

Direct Save

2020-01-06

Don't think even one star worth. Never known a this rubbish internet provider before. Placed my order on 29th November 2019 and still no sign of router or internet (pre wired and good working line). I was supposed to get it on 18th dec and when I call on 17 then said 3rd Jan and now another week or 2.
I would not recommend this company to any one and cant wait till the end of my contract.
Useless customer service who hasn't got a clue what they're talking. So if you're thinking of joining please don't, pay extra £or two and go somewhere else as it's not worth wasting your time and peace of mind

Nat

Beverley

Direct Save

2020-01-04

Direct Save suits me down to the ground!!

Satisfaction

5 stars

Customer Service

5 stars

Speed

5 stars

Reliability

5 stars

Annie

Bedford

Direct Save

2019-12-31

Frankly I’ve never known a more incompetent utilities provider in my life.

It’s been nearly 4 weeks since I placed my order for broadband (in a pre-wired building) and after being told that my order wouldn’t be processed for another 4 weeks, for no reason apparently, I kicked off and was asked to send “proof of address” which I did. After no reply for 4 days I called up and was told that someone had “forgot” to action this email so I after some time I got sent a router that obviously didn’t work. I had spoke to a customer service agent who advised everything would be sorted and surprise surprise the router didn’t work because after speaking to the technical team it “hadn’t been activated”. I was told this would happen within a few hours and yet here I am, none the wiser And none the closer to getting working broadband.

Honestly, if you can do so avoid this company like the plague, they are utterly, utterly useless. there’s a reason they’re cheaper than everyone else.

Satisfaction

1 star

Customer Service

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

Tom Campbell

West Midlands

Direct Save

2019-12-28

An extremely unsatisfactory service from the onset. Constantly have to unplug the modem to get it to work. Speed is extremely slow. My devices work at other addresses but not home. Called customer service who were unable to help because there system was down..

Direct Save Telecom are already one of the cheapest broadband suppliers out there with their £1.95 broadband and calls package. However, this hasn't stopped them from introducing a new, cheaper deal! They now offer a fantastic unlimited broadband contract for only 95p a month!

This deal is on a 12 month contract and comes with a free wireless router. It also features an only pay for the calls you make phone package, charged at the standard Direct Save call rates. This is ideal for those who primarily use the inclusive minutes on their mobile phone contracts to make calls and don't want to pay extra for landline call features they simply won't use.

While you will need to pay £17.75 line rental a month, you can reduce these costs by paying £138 for a year up front, making it the equivalent of only £11.50 a month!

Only available within Direct Save Telecom's low cost network area, more expensive packages are available for those outside of their network area. One-off setup fee of £24.95 applies along with £8.95 delivery fee for the router. Calls to UK landlines cost 15.75p to connect and then 9.5p a minute.

Direct Save have recently revamped their website to make it easier on the eye and to navigate around so that customers can easily find what they're looking for. The new-look website that works smoothly on both computers and mobile devices also makes the process of buying broadband from Direct Save much simpler, be it online or over the phone.

Direct Save offer a range of products to customers, including basic broadband and phone bundles, Fibre Optic broadband, and Fibre to the Home in selected areas. They are also one of the few Internet Service Providers who provide no contract ADSL broadband, allowing customers to control their account on a month by month basis, making these packages ideal for people in short-term accommodation and for students in need of cheap broadband.

Direct Save Broadband Buyers Guide - Is Direct Save right for you?

Can I get Direct Save Telecom?

Direct Save's most compelling product is their fibre to the home package which is able to offer speeds up to an impressive 300Mb.

These deals are only available where the FTTH technology has been deployed by OFNL (Open Fibre Networks Limited). This happens in new build estates, where it's often the only initial option for getting fast broadband. As of early 2019 OFNL service more than 2700 postcode areas, representing around 150 different sites. This is estimated to be around 40,000 homes. Use our postcode checker to see if you can get Direct Save Fibre to the Home where you live.

Direct Save are the cheapest reseller of OFNL services. The installation process is different to that of other fibre broadband packages and requires your home to be hooked up to the fibre network directly, via a connection point on the pavement outside. If you're in a house where this has already been done, then you can simply connect your router and you're ready to go. If not, an engineer will need to complete the installation. This costs more and may take a few weeks to schedule.

Direct Save also offer more traditional standard and fibre to the cabinet broadband services through the Openreach network. Although these don't have the same lightning fast speeds they do have near-universal coverage of around 95% of homes. 12 months and one month rolling contracts are available. Prices vary depending on where you live because Direct Save split their network into low cost and non-low cost areas. The latter is mainly remote, rural areas where you already have fewer options for broadband products, and they might also achieve speeds lower than the quoted average.

What packages are available?

Direct Save Telecom offer a whole host of packages for their fibre to the home, fibre to the cabinet and standard broadband products.

If it's available to you, you can get the OFNL Fibre to the Home deal in five configurations:

These deals all come on a 12 month contract. There is a setup and activation fee, but how much this is depends on whether your home is already hooked up to the network. If a previous owner has used any OFNL provider (not just Direct Save) then it will be, and the activation fee will be £25. If not, you'll need an engineer to connect you, and this will cost £39.95. This is lower than most other OFNL providers charge.

Because fibre to the home doesn't the use old copper phone cables at any point - unlike fibre to the cabinet - you can get it without a BT phone line. If you want to keep a landline you can add a voice service for an extra £4 a month, and the price of the calls you make will be added to your bill each month. If you make a lot of calls you can add an Evening and Weekend UK Calls or Anytime UK Calls plan on top of this.

This phone service runs over your internet connection. This means it will be unavailable if your broadband goes down for any reason, including if there's a power cut, and you wouldn't even be able to make emergency calls.

Superfast Fibre Broadband 76Mb - the fastest fibre to the cabinet package with a 63Mb average download speed and 17Mb upload, with unlimited use

These three options are available on a 12 month contract by default, or you can choose a rolling monthly deal with no contract for around £10 to £12 a month extra. In all cases, the price goes up once your initial contract period ends. You do need a phone line for all these deals, and you can add your choice of Evening & Weekend or Anytime calls.

Which package should I choose?

If you're in an area where Direct Save's fibre to the home service is available, you've got a choice between five speeds.

In many new build estates, OFNL products often represent the only way to get internet access. These homes are not always connected to the BT phone network straight away. If this applies to you, you'll have the choice of different OFNL suppliers, of which Direct Save is the cheapest.

When you sign up you will then have to choose the speed you require, ranging from 25Mb to an ultrafast 300Mb. The first three - 25Mb, 40Mb and 80Mb - are broadly in line with what you get from fibre to the cabinet providers (albeit the slowest is a little slower and the fastest a tad faster). 25Mb is definitely the entry-level option. It could handle a couple of people streaming Netflix at the same time, but doesn't give you that much room for growth. The 40Mb option should be plenty for most households' needs. Only if you have greater demands would you need to look at the faster plans.

The other thing to consider about Direct Save's fibre to the home deals is that their upload speeds are not that great, and certainly well below many other FTTH providers. Admittedly, upload speed is a secondary concern for most users. But if you work from home, or do other things that need fast upload speeds (like using cloud services or if you have a budding YouTuber in your family) then you have no choice but to look at the two fastest plans. Only these will give you speeds noticeably beyond what you'd get with an old fibre to the cabinet deal.

If you aren't in an FTTH area you can, of course, consider Direct Save's standard deals. But these use the same technology as most other broadband providers, and you'll find many others with either cheaper rates or more features. When weighing up their offers, keep in mind whether or not you're in a low cost area, as that will affect how much you pay quite considerably.

Points to consider before you choose

Do you live in a OFNL fibre to the home coverage area and which download and upload speed option will meet your needs and budget?

Do you need fast upload speeds?

How many people will be using your broadband connection at any one time, especially for heavy downloading or online games?

What do I get when I sign-up?

It's always good to know upfront what you'll get when signing up with an ISP so you know what you can enjoy for free, or to budget for any extras you may want.

UK-based customer support - Direct Save Telecom's core technical support team operate 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and customer support calls are free under the various inclusive phone packages.

Free N-rated wireless router - All packages come with a free N-rated wireless router to help you manage your connection. You will need to return the router if you leave Direct Save Telecom or you'll be charged an extra £35.

Direct Save Discount Loyalty Club membership - Get up to 25% discount from a varied range of retailers, including Apple, Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and Hilton Hotels.

What are the benefits of Direct Save Telecom?

The benefits offered by an ISP may be what seals the deal in your decision to buy a package from them.

Fibre to the home - If you're lucky enough to live in an area connected to the OFNL fibre to the home network then you can enjoy speeds averaging 300Mb at competitive prices. That's some of the UK's fastest broadband!

No contract option on standard and FTTC deals - Don't want to commit to a long contract? You can get Direct Save's basic broadband deals without any contract at all.

Free tech support - If you experience any problems you can speak to their tech support lines for free, although it isn't available 24 hours a day.

No phone line needed - Sign up for fibre to the home and you won't need a BT phone line installed, and won't have to pay line rental. You can add a voice service if you need one, though.

What are the drawbacks of Direct Save Telecom?

Let's face it, not everything can be perfect, and even the best deals may have a downside.

Fibre to the home has limited availability - Direct Save's ultrafast fibre to the home service is currently only available at selected new builds in 40+ English towns and cities connected to the OFNL network.

Relatively low upload speed on FTTH - Despite the maximum download speed of 300Mb, FTTH product range from 5Mb to 30Mb for upload speed, which could seem very slow in comparison if you upload a lot of large files or use cloud backup services.

Activation fee - You have to pay an activation fee on fibre to the home, and it'll be a higher if your home isn't already hooked up to the OFNL network.

No TV options - If you want to add Sky or other premium TV services you have to buy them separately.

Normal deals more expensive outside low cost areas - If you live outside of Direct Save Telecom's low cost areas, the cost of their standard and FTTC deals rises substantially.

No standalone broadband - All Direct Save Telecom packages include a home phone service, meaning that you might need to pay for a phone that you will not use, or need to switch phone provider when you'd rather not. However, the various inclusive phone deals mean that this would only be a problem to a few.